the good and the bad

Hello again dear reader,

I am here writing to you on Friday afternoon. It is my day off and I feel I should tell you a thing or two about life in Kabul at the moment.

I have thought quite a lot about whether to send this post as I was worried the contents may concern you, but events last night made me decide that part of the responsibility of a blog is to tell “how it is” and give you, my avid readers, the opportunity to briefly experience another world (obviously without the inconvenience of having to travel there, which in the case of the return to Kabul was truly an inconvenience to be avoided!)

You may recall a news item recently about a suicide attack in a far-off place. The attack on the Serena Hotel in Kabul. You see, the Serena Hotel is about as well a defended non-military establishment as you will find outside Iraq. The fact that four of our 'bearded friends' were able to get in, let off suicide bombs and generally treat it like the OK Coral has sent an enormous shockwave through the ex-pat community in Kabul. The 'bearded ones' have declared they will attack anywhere foreigners congregate and by breaking through the defences of the Serena they have shown they can do it.

Now in Kabul there are basically two bars for the ex-pat community to enjoy a chat and a beer, one of which is reasonably close to our house. Normally, this would be very busy on a Thursday evening as Friday is the only day off. We went to the bar last night and the first thing we found was hugely increased security. Without giving details, there were a number of armed guards at various stages as we went through a number of security gates, checks and metal detectors until we eventually were able to go inside to the bar. (After that you need a strong drink!!!). Instead of the usual 100+ there was one group of just 4 people and us. We had one drink and went home. You see, it has worked, no-one dares go out and congregate anywhere.

On a lighter note, me and a colleague went for a walk today in frozen Kabul (well, we had no electric, heating or hot water at home so it seemed like a good idea). The roads really are quite odd now. First it rained and made them all rutted and then the big freeze came. So the ruts and the ground are literally rock solid. The maximum temperature we have had for a week now is -10C so the snow and ice are completely solid and frozen. Walking down the road it is dusty, but if you scrape away the dust it is solid ice underneath. Very strange. Anyway as we wandered down a road we saw a group of lads playing football in the street. They asked us if we would like to join in; so there we were in woolly hats, gloves and coats playing footie. I was in goal, the ground is so rutted running around is not a good idea!!! (hope you like the piccie). We had a laugh and some fun then headed home. Don't stay in one place for too long, as they say.